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 |  OLYMPIC TORCH RETURNS: When St. Louis philanthropist E. Desmond Lee, BU40, carried the Olympic torch into Francis Field on June 17 as part of the 2004 Olympic Global Torch Relay, a 100-year journey was nearly complete. In 1904, St. Louis hosted the first Olympics in the Western Hemisphere, and the track and field events that year took place on Francis Field. Now, 100 years later, the Olympic flame was brought back to the historic playing field, which was rededicated a day earlier.
KLEIN NAMED EXECUTIVE VICE CHANCELLOR FOR ADMINISTRATION: John E. Klein, currently chairman and former president and chief executive officer of Bunge North America, Inc., will become the new executive vice chancellor for administration, effective September 1. He will succeed Richard A. Roloff as the University officer responsible for the Central Fiscal Unit. Roloff will continue as a University officer, with responsibility for the coordination, management, and planning of major capital projects, off-campus real estate, and off-campus development.
Research
 'SUBTLE, SLY, AND BLOODY': Or so the mother of Richard III calls her son in the play by William Shakespeare. Jamie Kneitel, Ph.D., post-doctoral researcher in biology in Arts & Sciences, and Jonathan Chase, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology, have appropriated those words to describe what they have observed in one of nature's most overlooked and unique ecosystems.
MIND GAMES: For the first time, a team headed by researchers at Washington University has placed an electronic grid atop human patients' brains to gather motor signals that enable patients to play a computer game using only the signals from their brains. The breakthrough is a step toward building biomedical devices that can control artificial limbs; some day, for instance, enabling the disabled to move a prosthetic arm or leg by thinking about it.
NO MEDICAL BENEFIT FROM LIPOSUCTION: Liposuction is no substitute for dieting when it comes to preventing diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine. They found that removing abdominal fat by using modern liposuction techniques did not provide the metabolic benefits normally associated with similar amounts of fat loss induced by dieting.
Features
 EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS: Since their creation in the early 1990s, charter schools have come under fire from many civil rights supporters. "Traditional advocates of civil rights claim that charter schools are but another opportunity for whites to escape from the public school system and gain advantage for their children at taxpayers' expense," says Tomiko Brown-Nagin, associate professor of law and of history. "This criticism overlooks the astounding fact, however, that most charter schools have been established in poor, minority neighborhoods and are attended disproportionately by poor, minority students -- those whose schools and neighborhoods have been untouched by Brown v. Board of Education."
DYNAMIC MENUS: What do you want, when do you want it, and how much are you willing to pay? Those are the options that Tava Olsen, associate professor of operations and manufacturing in the John M. Olin School of Business, wants businesses to offer and customers to enjoy. Her National Science Foundation-funded research aims to show them how to do it and why they will mutually benefit.
SURVIVAL OF THE NICEST? The prevailing view in popular and scientific literature is that humans and animals are genetically driven to compete for survival, thus making all social interaction inherently selfish. But Robert W. Sussman, Ph.D., professor of anthropology in Arts and Sciences, argues otherwise: "Instead of being genetically predisposed to competition and aggression, humans -- and perhaps other animals as well -- have a biological foundation for unselfish social interaction."
Heard on Campus
"Torch runs in the ancient world set the stage for the Olympics and ushered them in. But, over time, the torch run has become a way to foster Olympic ideals -- the ideals of noble competition, fairness, and unity."
- Robert Marbut, chair of the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Governing Bodies' Council, at the ceremony for the rededication of Francis Field on June 16.
Kudos
Goldwater Scholarships, one of the most prestigious awards for undergraduates planning careers in the sciences, engineering, or mathematics, were awarded to four students in the Class of 2006: Kristin Bibee (biology), Aaron Mertz (physics), Sonal Singhal (biology and anthropology), and James Wang (biology and neurobiology).
Hillary Johnson, a student in the School of Medicine, was recently elected vice chair of the American Medical Association Medical Student Section governing council. The AMA-MSS has nearly 50,000 medical-student members and holds two national meetings per year.
Jessica Johnson, LA04, received an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship, a competitive award that helps promising first-year doctoral students prepare for careers in teaching and scholarship in the humanities.
Junior first baseman Liz Swary and freshman pitcher Laurel Sagartz of the Washington University softball team were named to the 2004 Louisville Slugger/National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division III All-America team. Swary ranks among the top three in the Bears record book in almost every offensive category. Sagartz led the Bears pitching staff with a 14-3 record and a 0.77 earned run average. Swary also earned Academic All-America honors for a second consecutive year. The Bears finished the 2004 season with a 33-5 record.
Fulbright Scholarships were awarded to 15 Washington University students. The Fulbright scholars, with their field of study and destination, are: Anneke DeLuycker (anthropology, Peru); Abigail Dumes (anthropology, France); Joshua Ehrlich (anthropology, Ecuador); Patience Graybill (Germanic languages and literatures, Germany); Chad Haddal (political science, Sweden); Barbara Hawatmeh (law, Italy); Elisabeth Hildebrand (anthropology, Ethiopia); Samuel Hirst (modern history, Russia); Grace Kiang (teaching English as a foreign language, Germany); Suzuko Knott (Germanic languages and literatures, Germany); Nicole List (anthropology, Senegal); Bertin Louis (anthropology, Haiti); Tana Mitby (teaching English as a foreign language, Germany); Sonja Schiller (teaching English as a foreign language, France); and Tessa Schneider (teaching English as a foreign language, Germany).
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This newsletter is prepared by the staff of the Office of Special Development Communications Projects and the Office of Alumni and Development Programs. It is intended to provide a summary of what is happening at the University. Alumni, parents, and friends of the University for whom we have valid e-mail addresses automatically receive @ Washington University in St. Louis as a service of the University.
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